Imagine a clock that runs forever without batteries or wiring, its hands turning on their own without stopping.
In a recent study, physicists at the University of Colorado Boulder used liquid crystals, the same materials found in phone screens, to build something that echoes that idea. Their work produced a new form of what is known as a “time crystal,” a phase of matter in which components such as atoms or particles remain in continuous motion.
Although time crystals have been created before, this version is the first that can be viewed directly, which could open the door to practical uses.
“They can be observed directly under a microscope and even, under special conditions, by the naked eye,” said Hanqing Zhao, lead author of the study and a graduate student in the Department of Physics at CU Boulder.
Zhao and Ivan Smalyukh, a physics professor and fellow with the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI), recently published their findings in Nature Materials.
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